Tag Archive | The Doors

Painted by muralist Rip Cronk, this likeness of a microphone-holding, shirtless Jim Morrison can be seen on the side of a three-story building located at 1811 Speedway and 18th Place in Venice Beach, CA. Originally painted in 1991, Cronk touched up the painting in the Summer of 2012, creating a vibrant orange background over what had previously been both a darker blue color, and the building’s natural white brick. The mural is a must-see for Doors fans if you happen to be in the area.

Jim Morrison shuffled off this mortal coil exactly forty years ago today. Wow. A lot of Doors fans reading this post weren’t even born then. I was ten years old, so Jim has been dead for most of my life. He left us a lot of good and very unique music, and for this we should continue to fete him each year on the anniversary of his passing. My fellow rock critic Rob O’Connor has an noteworthy contribution to this day of remembering Jim Morrison in his latest Yahoo Music column, List of The Day, in which he conducts an interview with himself about Morrison’s life and The Doors’ contribution to music. It is quite clever/hilarious while also remaining respectful to the memory of Mr. Mojo Rising. Sort of. Also, O’Connor offers some solid advice for the novice Doors collector. Example:

Question #7: Which Greatest Hits Album Should I Buy?: Thanks for asking! The Doors, like The Smiths, have more greatest hits albums than actual studio albums. So, I would suggest buying all six of their studio albums. They’re all super! Then grab Absolutely Live!

On This Date in 1964: The Whisky a Go Go club opened on the Sunset Strip in West Hollywood, CA. The Whisky was a launching pad for such acts as The Doors and Frank Zappa’s Mothers of Invention. It’s also the club where Led Zeppelin performed their first US shows, supported by a then unknown band called Alice Cooper. Bands I can remember seeing at The Whisky include The Plasmatics and Nina Hagen. There are likely many others, but those memories aren’t really available to me anymore.

Jim Morrison, singer for The Doors would have celebrated his 67th birthday today. Thanks Jim, not only for the great music which will live forever (Favorite Doors’ Song: “The Crystal Ship”) but also for generating more traffic to The Worley Gig than any other dead rock star. Don’t think I don’t appreciate it.

As much as our culture overemphasizes the value of being and looking young, I would not want to be a minute younger than I am. Because if I’d been born in the eighties or nineties I wouldn’t have been alive to experience firsthand an era of rock music when bands like The Doors, Led Zeppelin, Queen and the Alice Cooper band were together and releasing new music that didn’t sound like it came from a can. How many 20 year-olds can say that they were able to see Queen in concert five times before Freddie Mercury even came out of the closet, or paid just $12 to see The Who back when Keith Moon was still alive? I feel sorry for anyone who ever scalped tickets to attend a Blink 182 concert or uttered the phrase “Limp Bizkit is my favorite band!” How unbelievably sad.

I remember when Rock Stars were Gods that Walked the Earth as Men instead of generic, indie-rock doofusses dressed in identical t-shirts and ripped jeans. Those days are gone for good, of course, and I cherish my memories of that time, but it’s nice also to be reminded of musicians that earned their legendary status when somebody makes a good documentary about a seventies band. Right now, you can rent or own a DVD of the fantastic documentary, When You’re Strange, a Film About the Doors directed by Tom Dicillo and featuring narration by Johnny Depp. The Doors are a band that’s easy to take for granted, because all of their songs are amazing and Jim Morrison remains enigmatic as an artist immortalized by a premature death. I don’t claim to be the hugest Doors’ fan on the planet, but I do realize when I hear “The Crystal Ship” or “Riders On The Storm” that their music is fucking genius.

I thought I knew a lot about the story of The Doors and their ill-fated lead singer, but really, even if you are a die-hard fan you are going to learn something from watching When You’re Strange. Dicillo approaches the story in such a refreshingly linear fashion, using tons of never-before-seen, archival footage of The Doors live, in the studio, back stage and also including high-quality “lost” footage of Morrison’s own film, HWY. Depp’s narration is matter of fact and unpretentious, and the music just speaks for itself: so many fantastic songs by a band that – with inclusion of Ray Manzarek’s “lead organ” riffs – had a truly unique and inimitable sound. There is no denying that Jim Morrison’s death at the age of 27 was a tragedy. But instead of thinking about how sad it is that Morrison died “before his time,” viewing When You’re Strange led me to conclude that we should just be happy and celebrate the fact that we had Jim for as long as we did, and that he left such a rich and enduring legacy. It’s so obvious that he was an artist who really gave all he could. Like Jimi, Janis, Kurt and Jean-Michel – all gifted artists who died at age 27 – I really don’t think he was built to last.

On This Date in 1971: Jim Morrison, legendary singer and lyricist for The Doors was found dead in the bathtub of his apartment in Paris, apparently of heart failure. He was 27 years old. Even though Morrison has been dead for over 40 years, his name is still the number one most-searched phrase on my website stats page. Dead Sexy!

On This Date, July 3rd, in 1971: Jim Morrison, legendary singer and lyricist for The Doors – and enduring sex symbol – was found dead in the bathtub of his apartment in Paris, apparently of heart failure. He was 27 years old. Also on this date in 1969,Brian Jones, former guitarist for and founding member ofThe Rolling Stones was found dead in his swimming pool in Hartfield, England, at the age of 27 years. For decades Jones’ death was ruled to be an accidental drowning, but the 2005 biopic, Stoned (which features great performances and excessive nudity – two thumbs up) shows an alternate version of his demise, based on the deathbed confession of his (alleged) killer. I don’t want to spoil it for you, so be sure to add Stoned to your Netflix Queue or pick it up on Amazon.com for mere pennies.